


Save the Pitiful Children

by ghostsofyourpast



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, I have no idea what I'm doing, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marichat, Other, Possible Reveal, Slow Burn, adrienette - Freeform, aged up AU, if ML were intended for an older audience basically, reverse love-square
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-21 12:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21074816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostsofyourpast/pseuds/ghostsofyourpast
Summary: On the first day of high school, Marinette and Adrien were expecting to start planning out the rest of their lives, not becoming superheroes, but what are they supposed to do when mysterious boxes appear on their respective desks?As the tags suggested, this is my re-imagining of ML but with a bit more suffering. I'm not going to be writing the episodes out as they're laid out in the series, rather focusing more on the more plot developing ones, and changing things up to fit my AU.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I should warn that this has basically no editing and I'm making this up as I go. Sorry not sorry.

“What do you mean I can’t go?” Adrien Agreste demanded.

“Exactly what it sounds,” Gabriel answered, staring down his son.

“I’m already enrolled,” Adrien insisted. “You swore I could go to school this year. It’s not like it’s a bad school; Chloe goes there!”

“Adrien, I said no,” Gabriel said sternly. “Do not argue with me.”

Jaw clenching, Adrien weighed his options. There were really only two options: bow his head and continue homeschooling, or sneak out and attend anyway. The first one would mean continuing the cycle of isolation and loneliness, but the second could all fall apart if Gabriel already had Nathalie call the school and withdraw his enrollment, and even if he did make it to the first day with no problems, that didn’t guarantee he’d be able to continue going.

“Sorry, Father,” Adrien finally said, allowing his shoulders to deflate.

“Go to your room, now. Nathalie will go over your new curriculum soon.”

“Yes, Father,” Adrien obeyed, and stalked up to his room. Once he was in the ‘sanctuary’ of his over-sized room, Adrien rushed over to his closet and dragged his school bag out, refusing to remain a doormat. Not to sound like a Disney character, but he was sixteen, not a child! He was almost an adult; he had to start thinking for himself or else he’ll end up one of those guys who lives with their parents into their thirties. He double checked the time Chloe sent him on his phone. Just under an hour before class started. He had plenty of time to work out a plan. He could do this.

***

Only a few blocks away, Marinette Dupain-Cheng groaned awake, cursing her alarm and herself for not properly resetting her sleep schedule. The past two weeks were spent promising herself about mid-afternoon that she’d go to sleep before midnight and wake up early, get her mentally ready for an eight o’clock wake for school, but once night fell, she’d push back bedtime by rationalizing. Anything from, ‘oh, it’s nine thirteen, I’ll go to bed at nine thirty’, or ‘just one more video’, and that little promise would keep repeating until she finally realized it was well past one in the morning, and she failed. Again. Rinse and repeat until the first day finally arrived, and Marinette was screwed.

She knew herself well enough to know that if she hit snooze, she’d fall asleep and miss the alarm, so with a heavy body, Marinette forced herself out of bed, dragging her feet as she made her way downstairs, where she found her mother tidying up the living room.

“Morning, mama,” Marinette greeted with a stretch.

“Good morning, sweetie,” Sabine returned. “Are you excited for school?”

Marinette groaned in answer, causing Sabine to chuckle.

“Oh, come now, don’t be like that. It’s your first year of high school! That’s a very big deal. These next few years are the start of your journey into adulthood. Arguably the most important years of your young life.”

“No pressure,” Marinette grumbled, opening the fridge door in search for food.

“Oh, you’ll be fine,” Sabine waved off. “You’re a very bright girl, and I’m not just saying that because I’m your mother.”

“Thank you, mama,” Marinette said with a smile, arms full as she closed the fridge door with her foot.

“Do you need any help?” Sabine asked.

“I’ve got this,” Marinette assured, setting everything down on the table.

“Alright, well I need to go help your father, so I’ll be just downstairs if you need me.”

“Okay, mama,” Marinette said, pecking her mom on the cheek, before returning to the task at hand as Sabine left the apartment.

As she prepared and ate breakfast, she messaged her friends, deducing who she’d have classes with. So far, three confirmed being in her homeroom, and others had at least one other class or the same lunch block, and those who had opted to go to another school wished her luck on the first day, and she wished them the same.

She went through her morning routine with a mug of tea in hand, and before she knew it, it was nearing time to leave, so she double-checked her bag, inspected her outfit and makeup, and then headed down to the bakery, where her parents were preparing for opening.

“Good morning, Marinette,” Tom greeted. “Ready for school?”

“Morning papa,” she returned. “All ready, just wanted to say bye before I left.”

“Do you have everything?”

“I do,” she assured.

“I think you’re missing something,” Tom said with a shake of his head.

“What? What am I missing?” Marinette asked, confused. Did he hide something from her as a joke?

“You forgot these,” Tom said, revealing a long, tea green box.

Marinette chuckled and drawled, “Really, papa?”

“It’s tradition!” Tom insisted.

He had a point there. Every year on the first day, her parents would send her to school with a box full of treats to share with her classmates to help her make new friends. Now she thought she was a little too old to be using bribery to make friends, but it was still a nice surprise to help sweeten the first day.

“Thank you, papa,” Marinette said honestly, taking the box from him.

“You’re welcome, darling. Now go on, you don’t want to be late.”

“I’m going, I’m going,” she assured, giving him a one-armed hug. “I’ll see you later, papa.”

“Have a good day at school,” he said, hugging her back.

“I will!” she said, before saying bye to her mother, and heading out the door. Luckily, her apartment was directly across the street from her school, giving her very little excuses to be late, but unfortunately, there was less than five seconds on the light, and she was not about to risk sprinting across the street, as Paris was no exception to the stereotype that city people could not drive. However, an older gentleman didn’t have the same train of thought, and was leisurely making his way across the road. He wasn’t aware of the truck barreling down the road, and the truck clearly wasn’t aware of him, and if he doesn’t notice him soon, the results could be – well, fatal.

Her decision was made in a split second; arguably a stupid one considering the risks, but her mind didn’t reflect on them long enough to weigh them out. She dove into the street, grabbed the man, and rushed him back over to her side, where he was heading, with mere seconds to spare before the truck sped through the light as if oblivious it was still red, and that he nearly ran someone over.

“Are you okay?” Marinette gasped, looking down at the man.

“Thank you, young lady,” he said, voice surprisingly deep for one so small.

“People don’t always pay attention,” she said. “You have to be more careful, especially when it comes to crossing roads.”

She had a moment of panic, wondering who was she to lecture someone clearly older than her, but the man merely smiled and said, “You’re absolutely right. I wasn’t thinking. Oh, I’m so sorry. It appears you dropped something.”

Marinette looked down, only to realize that in her rush, the box her dad gave her had opened, and some of the macaroons within had fallen out.

She assured, “It’s fine, my papa always packs extra in case something happens.”

“You shouldn’t eat so much sugar in one day,” he lectured. “It’s not good for a growing lady such as yourself.”

Marinette giggled and reassured, “They’re for my class. I always bring sweets to the first day to share with everyone.”

“That’s very kind of you,” he said.

“Doesn’t cost anything to be nice,” she said with a shrug, before offering him a macaroon, which he gladly took. “I have to go now, before I’m late, but it was really nice meeting you! Be safe okay?”

“I will,” he said. “It was lovely to meet you. I hope our paths cross again someday.”

Marinette just smiled and waved, before checking both ways and crossing the street, completely unaware of the man’s knowing smile, or the blonde boy just a few meters away from her, and the schools front entrance.

“Adrien!”

He screeched to a stop and spun around, only to see Nathalie leaning out the car window. He cried, “I’m still enrolled here, aren’t I? They’re expecting me to show up!”

“You know this isn’t what your father wants,” she continued as if he didn’t speak.

“What about what I want? I should be able to make my own decisions!”

Nathalie began speaking, but Adrien didn’t hear her. A loud yelp and sharp thud distracted him, causing him to turn, only to find an older gentleman lying in the middle of the sidewalk, a walking cane just out of his reach. 

Adrien was quick to rush to his side, dragging the cane closer.

“Are you okay, Sir?” Adrien asked. “Do you need me to call someone?”

“I’m alright now,” he rasped, getting to his feet with Adrien’s aid. “Thank you, young man.”

“Are you sure?” Adrien said warily. “That was a pretty nasty fall you took.”

“I may be old, but my body’s strong,” he said. “I just got new hips a few months ago.”

That didn’t ease Adrien’s worries at all, but before he could voice them, the man resumed walking.

“Thank you again, Adrien,” he said. “I hope our paths cross again.”

“Yeah, me too,” he said vacantly, keeping his eye on the man as he walked away to be sure he wouldn’t fall again, but thankfully, he was walking as fine as he could with the cane, until he vanished into the crowd. Adrien turned back around, only to find that both Nathalie and his bodyguard had gotten out of the car, and were now standing between him and the school.

“You know the rules, Adrien,” Nathalie stated. “Let’s go.”

“No,” Adrien stated.

“Excuse me?” Nathalie asked.

“Look, I know father’s worried, I get that, but he’s over reacting. It’s just school. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Fires, viruses, structural damages-.”

“Nathalie,” Adrien stressed. “Just give me a week. Just one week to prove I can handle this, and nothing bad will happen. Please!”

Her resolve was shaking. He could see it.

“You know your father won’t be happy,” she said.

“I’ll prove it to him, too,” he bargained. “I swear I’ll be fine. Chloe will be there, remember? Mayor Bourgeois wouldn’t let her go to this school if he thought there was anything potentially dangerous about this school.”

She heaved a heavy sigh, before finally relenting, “Fine, you may go, but if I hear of one incident, no matter how minor, I’m pulling you out.”

“Thank you!” he cried, elated, before rushing past her before she had the chance to change her mind. “I’ll see you at three!”

Nathalie could feel eyes boring into the side of her head and curtly said, “I’ll deal with it,” before the two climbed back into the car.


	2. This ain't no highschool, this is the thunderdome

The school was bustling as students caught up with their friends, newbies wandered with their noses buried in their maps, and everyone tried to work out their new class routes. Adrien and Marinette both got swept up in the crowd, Marinette searching for her friends and Adrien trying to remain invisible. He was a model, after all, the face of the _Gabriel_ brand, and therefore attracted plenty of unwanted attention. Attention he really didn’t want while so completely out of his element. He made it to his homeroom after a bit of wandering and no incidents, and found it just as busy within as the halls. He felt the anxiety rising as he looked around at all the unfamiliar faces, all too wrapped up in their own conversations to notice his entrance.

“Adrien! I’m _so_ glad you’re here!”

Adrien never felt so relieved to see Chloe. She was dressed in her signature white and yellow ensemble, bleach blonde ponytail high, and makeup perfected right down to the contours on her nose, and the blue eyeshadow that matched her eyes perfectly.

“Hi, Chloe,” he said, grinning. “I’m glad to be here. It’s nice to see you, Sabrina.”

Sabrina lit up and returned, “You as well, Adrien!”

He smiled, glad Sabrina was in his class, too. He rarely got to hang out with her, as the only times he saw Chloe was during public events or the rare time he begged his dad to let him go visit, or her come over so he could have some social interaction, and Sabrina didn’t often tag along. She was a mousy sort of girl, with bright red hair, thick brown glasses framing her green eyes, and was dressed far more casually than Chloe; a patterned sweater vest over a white blouse, a teal skirt, and black leggings.

“So, is it assigned seats?” Adrien asked, pretty sure that’s how it worked. “Or do I get to choose where I sit?”

Sabrina piped up, “You get to choose your seat. Chloe and I always sit together!”

“Sabrina, you can sit somewhere else,” Chloe said offhandedly. “You’re sitting with me, Adrien.”

Adrien wasn’t too thrilled with that, as the point of this was to make more friends than just Chloe, but he wasn’t sure how to voice that.

“But Chloe,” Sabrina protested. “We always sit together!”

Taking that and running with it, Adrien said, “You and Sabrina can sit together, that’s fine. I wanna meet some people, so I’ll sit-.”

As he extended his hand to gesture towards some of the empty seats behind him, Marinette had walked up beside him, focus entirely on Rose so she didn’t notice Adrien’s hand until it connected with the box in her hand and knocked it to the floor. He cursed and she cried out, dropping to her knees to clean up the mess, but before Adrien could help her, Chloe grabbed his arm and yanked him away.

“We don’t talk to the likes of Dupain-Cheng,” she drawled.

“Wait-,” Adrien began, but she cut him off.

“Besides, people like _us_ don’t ‘clean up’, we leave that to the lower class.”

“Chloe,” he hissed.

“Come on, Adrien, don’t bother with her,” she said as if he didn’t speak, literally dragging him away.

He glanced anxiously over his shoulder back at the girl, who thankfully had cleaned up most of the mess with the help of her friends, but he still felt really bad. She caught his eye, and he opened his mouth to apologize, but her icy glare from her deep blue eyes stopped him cold, and unsure what else to do, Adrien went along with Chloe.

“Thank you for helping me,” Marinette said to the random girl who had jumped up from her desk to help scoop up the macaroons.

“It’s no problem,” she assured. “It’s too bad; they looked really good.”

“They were for the class, too,” Marinette said with a frown as the girls’ got to their feet. “Now everyone has to miss out because of him.”

“Do you think he did it intentionally?” she asked, having not seen the initial crash.

“Well, he’s friends with Chloe, so who knows?” Marinette huffed.

“Yeah, based on my first impression, she seems like a total wannabe Regina George.”

“I’m guessing you’re new here?”

“Yeah,” she said with a wry grin. “Long story short: we moved, and this school was within walking distance, and I hate taking the bus, so I just switched. Nothing interesting.”

“Life is rarely interesting,” Marinette said. She then extended his hand and said, “My name’s Marinette, by the way. What’s yours?”

“Alya,” she said, shaking Marinette’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You as well,” Marinette returned. “We should find our seats before the teacher comes.”

“Did you want to sit with me?” Alya asked hopefully.

“Sure!” Marinette exclaimed, glad she made a new friend, and followed Alya over to her desk, where she sat the near empty box of macaroons and stared at them with a frown.

“Still upset?” Alya guessed.

“It’s just…my dad made those special for the class to enjoy, and now all his hard work went to waste.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad,” Alya tried. “There’s still a few left.”

“You’re right,” she allowed, before taking one out and handing it to Alya, whom immediately broke it in half and handed part to Marinette, who accepted it with a smile. She took a moment to look over her new friend, admiring her thick, light brown hair with red tips, her big, brown eyes beneath what Marinette’s dad liked to call ‘hipster glasses’, and her simple style of a flannel t-shirt and jeans, which perfectly showed off her curvy body that Marinette was admittedly envious of.

Alya then looked to her right, where Chloe and Adrien sat in the front – Sabrina looking rather lost sitting next to Max – and commented, “He does look familiar.”

“Did he go to your old school?” Marinette suggested.

“I don’t think so? Wait,” Alya quickly dug out her phone and scrolled through her Instagram, clicking on a profile. “Here he is! Adrien Agreste; his dad’s the fashion designer Gabriel Agreste.”

“Oh, I really like his designs!” Marinette recognized. “It’s too bad his son’s a total douche.”

Alya snorted. “Even if it was an accident, he didn’t apologize or nothing.”

“He’s exactly like Chloe, that’s for sure.”

“Remind me to stay clear of the both of them.”

Marinette giggled and assured, “Don’t worry; I’ll introduce you to my friends. They’re amazing.”

“Yay, friends,” Alya said, overdramatically clasping her hands together, causing Marinette to giggle, but the conversation was cut when Miss. Bustier entered the room, and class officially began. Everything proceeded as normal, including the first class outburst.

“_Kim_!” Ivan hissed, just a few octaves too loud.

Miss. Bustier called, “Ivan, is there something you’d like to share with the class?”

“Kim keeps bugging me!” Ivan cried.

“I am not!” Kim insisted. “I haven’t done a single thing!”

“You threw paper at me!”

“Enough,” Miss. Bustier said as firmly as the kind-hearted woman could muster. “Both of you, go sort this out in the principal’s office.”

Two boys, one situation, two very different reactions: Kim knew they wouldn’t get into much trouble, a lecture or even detention at most, but Ivan was already irate from the note Kim threw at him, and now he had to go to the principal’s office on the first day back? He wasn’t exactly livid, but he was getting close, and Kim’s teasing’s wasn’t helping.

“You always blow everything out of proportion,” Kim said. “I was just joking around. Don’t you know how to take a joke?”

The anger was rising with every word Kim said, now attacking his inability to ask Mylene out, the basis of the note, and normally Ivan was a sort of gentle giant, but everyone had their breaking point, and Ivan reached his. Kim was expecting him to snap and yell at him, not for an odd black shape to shoot towards the note in Ivan’s hand, or for that note to turn black, and especially didn’t expect Ivan become encased in a black smoke as a purple butterfly outlined his face. The smoke faded away, leaving a stone creature in Ivan’s place, and Kim decided to run.

The reaction was immediate. Alarms blared, students were herded out with no idea of what was going on, and mass panic ensued. Marinette didn’t learn what was happening until she got home to her worried parents, urging her to stay in her room until further notice, where she turned on the news. She recognized her mom’s friend Nadja Chamack talking about the incident, but couldn’t believe a word she said.

“Oh, my god,” she whispered, staring at the footage of the stone monster barreling down the streets, knocking over cars and trampling the few unfortunate people who couldn’t make it out of the way in time.

Her eye was then drawn off the horror and onto a small box on her desk, something that shouldn’t have been so distracting, as it was likely something her mother bought, or a gift from a distant relative that just arrived, but it was calling to her, and half dazed, she reached out and opened it, only to be immediately blinded by a bright light.

“Hello! I’m your Kwami, Tikki!”

Marinette let out a strangled gasp, staring at the tiny pink creature floating before her eyes.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Marinette,” she continued.

She whined loudly, unsure how else to react but attempt to squash the giant talking bug with a book, but to her horror, it phased directly through the book and remained unharmed.

“I’m going crazy, aren’t I?” she babbled. “First that kid, then the monster, now this? This is too much for one day.”

“You’re not crazy,” Tikki assured.

“Then I’m dead,” she decided. “That monster killed me, and you’re here to take me to the afterlife. Do I at least go to heaven? I’m a good person, aren’t I?”

“You’re not dead, but you are a very good person, and that’s why I’m here.”

“What even are you?!”

“I’m a Kwami,” she repeated. “I’m here to help you stop Stone Heart, the monster you mentioned, but you can’t tell _anyone_ about me, okay?”

Flabbergasted, Marinette repeated, “Help _me_ stop him?! How am I supposed to stop him?”

Tikki was starting to think she had her work cut out for her.

She explained, “Those earrings are magic, and by fusing with them, I can turn you into a superhero with the ability of creation. By using your abilities, you along with another hero with the ability of destruction can stop Stone Heart.”

Staring blankly, Marinette said, “Yep, I’m dead.”

“You’re not dead. By using your ‘lucky charm’ you can create an object that will help you defeat your enemy. You can use the lucky charm as often as you need, but be warned: using it too much, as well as being suited up for long periods of time will tire me out. When this happens, I’ll notify you by sending a signal to your earrings, and once you hear that signal, you’ll have anywhere between ten and thirty minutes before you change back.”

“Huh,” she said, robotically reaching out for the earrings, and put them on. Thank god she got her ears pierced when she was eight.

“In order to defeat him, you need to find the object the Akuma resides in and release it. By capturing and purifying it, you’ll return Stone Heart back to normal.”

“Okay. Find and capture the Akuma using my lucky charm.”

“And purify it.”

“Right. Slight problem: I don’t feel any different.”

She giggled and said, “To trigger your transformation, all you have to say is: Transform Me.”

“Okay. Transform me!”

Tikki immediately shot into her earrings, a pink glow covering her, and when it faded, Marinette glanced in the mirror and found herself no longer wearing her school clothes, rather a bright red outfit with black spots, a matching dominos mask, and a large yoyo around her waist. Her black hair remained in the same two-tailed style she normally gravitated towards, and her eyes had no change, yet she didn’t recognize herself in the mirror.

“I don’t think I like this,” she said weakly. “Tikki? Can you hear me?”

There was no response, meaning she was completely alone, at least, until she found that partner Tikki mentioned. Knowing she didn’t have any other choice, Marinette climbed into the balcony via the trapdoor above her loft, removed the yoyo, and looked around. She wondered if she could use it as a sort of grappling hook, thought, ‘here goes nothing’, and threw it at the nearest building, only to be launched in the air with no idea of where she was landing.

Meanwhile, Adrien was using his baton as a tightrope, testing out his newfound agility, when he heard a loud cry, and looked up just in time for a blur of red and black to slam into him, the only thing keeping them from hitting the ground being the string of Marinette’s yoyo wrapping around their waists, pinning them together midair.

“Nice of you to drop in,” he said, assuming she was the partner Plagg had mentioned between complaining about food.

“Sorry,” she apologized sheepishly. “I’m still new at this.”

“No worries, I am too,” he assured.

She then gave a quick tug on the wire, releasing them and sending them back to solid ground, where they thankfully managed to land on their feet due to quick maneuvering they never would have managed outside of the suits.

“I’m guessing you’re the partner my Kwami mentioned,” she said, looking him over. He was dressed in all black, had messy blonde hair with two black cat ears sticking out, his eyes were bright green, slightly unnerving cat eyes, a gold bell hanging from his collar, a tail belt, and his suit had _pockets_.

“Yeah, call me uh…Chat Noir. That works. What’s your name?”

“If you don’t mind me borrowing your animal themed idea, I’ll go with…Ladybug? I guess?”

“I like it,” he exclaimed.

A loud crash echoed the air, reminding them both why they were dressed like they just walked out of a comic convention, and turned towards the sound.

“We should go deal with that,” Chat Noir decided.

Ladybug nodded resolutely, before the two followed the sounds of destruction, finally coming face to face with what used to be Ivan, surrounded by police vehicles while the force repeatedly fired bullets at him, which only seemed to further anger him, and make him grow in size with every bullet that hit.

Stopping on a roof, Ladybug shouted, “Stop! You’re only making things worse by shooting at him!”

The police ceased fire to stare at the stranger figure, before Officer Rogers asked, “Who the hell are you?”

“We’re here to help,” Chat Noir explained, landing at her right side.

“Leave it to the professionals, kids,” he said, clearly having dealt with enough bullshit in one day. “Now go somewhere safe!”

Before anyone could move, Stone Heart let out a loud roar and swung his fist, slamming it down exactly where Ladybug and Chat Noir were standing. If it weren’t for Chat Noir quickly grabbing her and diving out of the way, they would have been crushed.

Looking around wildly, Chat Noir suggested, “Let’s lead him to the stadium. If we keep him contained there, we can take him down without anyone else getting hurt.”

“Good idea,” Ladybug agreed, and the two took off, Stone Heart steps behind. She really hoped no one was in the building he crushed, or the patrol car he stepped on, but didn’t have time to dwell as they attempted to outrun the angry sentient boulder. Thankfully, the stadium was empty when they arrived, and Stone Heart’s focus was entirely on them, meaning he wasn’t going anywhere.

“I think now’s the time to use our abilities,” Chat Noir suggested. “Apparently I can destroy anything I touch, not unlike my normal life. Cataclysm!”

Ladybug leaned back a bit as a black smoke encased his hand, and Chat Noir continued, “Let’s see how well this actually works,” before touching a nearby soccer net. The bars rusted and crumbled as the strings withered and frayed, reducing it to nothing but a heap of scrap on the faux grass.

“You should be more careful with how you use that,” Ladybug lectured.

“What? I can use it more than once. Can’t you?”

“Yes, but it wears us out if we do it too much! We should limit ourselves to only using them when necessary.”

“I’d say this is entirely necessary.”

“Hey! Watch out!”

Ladybug looked up, only to see Stone Heart barrelling at them, so she quickly grabbed Chat Noir and swung them to safety, where she realized it was not Chat Noir who cried out. No, it was Alya, half hidden amongst the bleachers, phone raised as she clearly recorded the entire interaction.

“When did you get here?” Ladybug cried.

“And why?” Chat Noir asked.

“I’ve been following him this whole time!” she shouted. “There’s no way I’m missing this!”

“Are you crazy!?” Chat Noir cried.

“Bigger issues,” Ladybug said impatiently. “We have to focus on taking him down.”

He nodded in agreement, leaving Alya be. “Now: do you think the guy’s encased in the stone, sort of like a suit of armour, or is he the stone? Should I try cataclysming him?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to destroy him, just in case it’s not a suit. The last thing I want to do is kill him. There’s enough bodies already. No, my Kwami said something about finding the Akumatized object and breaking it, but there’s nothing on him. It’s all just rocks and – oh! His fist! He’s kept his one fist in a ball! He’s holding the Akuma in his hand!”

“So all we need to do is get him to drop it,” Chat Noir finished.

Ladybug then decided it was best to call for her lucky charm, instinctively throwing her yoyo into the air while doing so, and as the yoyo fell back down, so did – of all things – a red and black inflatable. She stared at it for a moment, before rhetorically asking, “What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?”

Chat Noir snorted and said, “That’s all on you.”

Ladybug looked around at the stadium around her, until she noticed the tap right by Alya, and the connecting hose only a meter away from where the two heroes stood.

“I have a plan.”

“Oh, good.”

“It’s an insane plan.”

“Nothing about this day is sane.”

“You’re really going to need to trust me on this, okay?”

“Now you’re scaring me a little.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Ladybug said, before grabbing Chat Noir by the tail and swinging him around, before throwing him at Stone Heart, who caught him in his free hand. “Hey, girl! When I give you the signal, turn on the tap!”

“You got it!” Alya called, giving her a thumbs up.

Ladybug just nodded, before grabbing the inflatable and throwing herself at Stone Heart. Just as she expected, he dropped the Akuma to snatch her out of the air, his grip insanely tight. She could see Chat Noir struggling and gasping for air – Stone Heart was crushing him.

“Tap! Now!” she cried desperately, and thankfully, Alya wasted no time obeying. In mere seconds, the inflatable filled up with water, causing Stone Heart to drop her. She was quick to destroy the object, the note Kim threw at him, and as a purple butterfly flew out of it, Stone Heart shrunk down and returned to Ivan, releasing Chat Noir.

“Are you okay?” she gasped, rushing to his side.

He nodded, gasping for breath. “Thank god that worked. Is it all over now?”

“I think so?” she said, unsure. “Wait, I still have to purify the Akuma.”

“How do you do that?”

“Um,” she looked around, before spotting her lucky charm on the ground. She picked it up, and with a cry of, “Miraculous Ladybug!” she threw it in the air, causing it to explode into a flurry of glowing pink ladybugs, which shot through the air, fixing up the damages done to the stadium, including the net Chat Noir destroyed, and she assumed whatever else Stone Heart destroyed in his wake. With any luck, the lives lost would be returned.

“That was awesome!” Alya cried, running over to them. “How’d you do that? Who exactly are you? Do you know who was behind this mysterious attack? Will there be more to come?”

Overwhelmed and just wanting to go home, Ladybug began slowly backing up, and thankfully, Chat Noir noticed her hesitance.

Throwing an arm around her, he said, “My name’s Chat Noir, this amazing lady is Ladybug. We’re not taking any questions right now, thank you.”

With that, he extended his baton and used it as a pole vault to get away from Alya’s prying questions, much to her disappointment.

***

“Thank god that’s over,” Marinette sighed, settling down into her chaise.

“You did amazing, Marinette!” Tikki cried. “You and Chat Noir made a great team!”

“I wonder who he is,” she mused. “We didn’t get to talk after; I wanted to make sure everyone really was okay, and we got separated.”

“That’s a good thing,” Tikki reminded. “You’re not supposed to know each other’s identities. If anyone finds out, it could put your family in danger.”

“I know,” she said with a sigh, opening the news app on her phone to see if there were any new reports on the Akuma. “Still, we worked very well together – wait, Tikki, look at this. Stone Heart’s not gone; people have been changing into them, and they’re all frozen in place. Why is this happening?”

“Didn’t you purify the Akuma?”

“I thought I did! I mean, I reversed everything using that lucky charm, shouldn’t that purify it?”

She shook her head solemnly. “That only reverses the damages. You have to catch the Akuma in your yoyo and purify it that way.”

“Oh, _crap_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this is way longer than I intended. Also, shout out to the people who noticed the title's reference!


End file.
